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November 1 to 15, 2010 November 16 to 30, 2010

Monday November 1, 2010

Today is touring day. We are going south to Tifton and the peanut museum.
It is a small museum and it was not worth the detour.

I did not know that!

A peanut field.

We are off to Albany, this is where Ray Charles was born.

We think the town's name is funny.

The Ray Charles Plaza.

All around the plaza you have something that looks like piano keys. Even a G-clefs.

What a colorful turtle.

Right off the plaza there is the Flint River aquarium.

Mostly fresh water fish.

First we have ever seen.

Pecan grove.

We think it is kind of neat to see cotton bales by the road.

Tuesday November 2, 2010

Today we are getting our stuff ready to move tomorrow.
Florida is only 100 miles south of us. We probably will get to Perry which is another 60 miles south.
Laundry and update our web page.
Of course Michele is helping me with laundry.

Hard at work on the updates.

Wednesday November 3, 2010

Moving day!
We left Cordele by 9 am.
From the campground we take highway 41. Cotton harvest is in full swing.
Lots of cotton on the side of the road.

What you see hanging from the trees is Spanish Moss.

We had lunch at a truck stop. Can you see the motorhome?

At Tifton we get on the I-75 south, this will help us make time.

In many state, prisoners are have to work on the chain-gang.
Does Canada do that?

Our first stop is at the information center. It is not a real information center! This one is a scam and the even have the nerve to tell us the real information center is 3 miles further south???

Second stop, this one is the real Florida information center. It is OK, but it seems like you have to pull teeth to get information.
It is getting warm outside!

We arrived in Perry by 2:30 pm.
At first sight it looks like a nice little town.

We are staying at the Perry KOA until November 10th.
So many big trees!

More photos of the campground tomorrow.

Thursday November 4, 2010

The sky is ready to dump water on us. A good day to do nothing.
Our home, site E-11.

The office has free coffee in the morning. I got one. On the way out, the rain has started coming down hard. Back inside and got myself another coffee. Sat on the porch and watch the rain coming down.

The front part of the campground is full of large oak trees. So beautiful.

Michèle is watching some DVD and I go into town to check things out.
The rain finally stops by 4 pm. Time to hit the hot tub. It may be only 70 F outside, but the hot tub is just hot enough.
I am reading for 20 minutes in the hot tub.

Back at the motorhome I hit the shower, do some more reading and watch TV.

The good life!

Friday November 5, 2010

Today we are visiting a few small towns and villages by the Gulf of Mexico. The north-western part of Florida is not known for its beach, but for its fishing.
First destination is Steinhatchee just a little south of Perry. We are surprised by the forest we see along our travel. It makes for a boring drive. Just like northern Ontario.
We learned the lumber is a major industry in the northern part of Florida.

No beach in Steinhatchee, but lots of houses on stilts.
Near the coast you have to build on stilts. When a storm couple with wind and tide comes, the water level can reach more than 2 meters high.

One of the many marinas in Steinhatchee. Four floors high and no cheap boats either!

We see more and more golf carts s we go south.

We are now in Keaton Beach.
I have to touch the Gulf of Mexico's water, it is warm.
By the way, what you see is the whole beach!

The white marker on the pole is how high the water was on the last storm.

Keaton Beach.

15 years ago a big storm came through this area and destroyed almost all the houses. Now you must build on stilts.

Next is on to Adams Beach. We followed the signs and here we are with no town!

Back at the campground we have diner. Tonight is camper's bingo.

Sadly, we did not win anything, but we had fun.

A good day even if it was a little on the cool side.

Saturday November 6, 2010

It was some cool last night, minus 1 C.
What is this frost on our car?

We are using this cool day to visit the area north-west of Perry, in the general direction of Tallahassee. Who knows what we could find!
Wakulla Spring State Park. The name tells us something!

The ranger at the entrance tells us what the park is all about. It has a cruise on the spring where you can see manatee, alligators and exotic birds. In we go. Lucky us, the cruise is leaving in about 15 minutes. There are only 8 of us including us two.
The ship captain/guide is great. With so few of us, he gives us an extra long tour. If we did not have time to take a photo, he backs up and tells us to take our time. What a tour!

The photos can only give you an idea of the beauty of the park.

Wakulla Spring is the biggest and deepest spring in the world. Between 568 and 2271 cube meter of water per second comes out of the spring. With a constant temperature of 70 F, it attracts a lot of wild animals.

An alligator crossing right in front of us.

Even if the alligator does eat turtles, sometimes they sun themselves on the same log!

A young blue heron.

Just some more photos of Wakulla Spring...

Something you don't see too often, a baby manatee.

How many manatees can you see. I counted 8.

We made it to Tallahassee, did some shopping, it is just a big city, actually the capital of Florida.

Quite a day!

Sunday to Tuesday November 7 to 9, 2010

The next few days we catch-up on our chores.

Sunday we do a cleanup/sorting of all the books we have in the basement.
Just about half we go.

Monday we purchased an US phone. It is a lot less expensive than Canada.
The evenings are on the cool side, I wait inside while the meal is cooking on the BBQ.

Tuesday is wash day for the motorhome. We are also getting ready to hit the road tomorrow.

We will move to the Tampa area.

Wednesday November 10, 2010

On our way out of the Perry KOA.

We are traveling south, more precisely to Dover, near Tampa. The road is nice, the sun is shining, not sure yet where will be exactly tonight.

They even trim the trees on the side of the road. This is not an interstate, it is just a secondary highway. It is very nice.

The stuff you can see when you are not on the interstate.

Do they have bears in Florida?

During lunch we called some RV parks in the Key West area to book for a week.
We found one place close to Key West, but at a cost of $120.00 per day. What the hell!

We also phoned in the Tampa area for a RV park and found one for $123.00 for the week. We are going there!

East Tampa, here we are.

Ah! A nice cool pool, so relaxing.

More relaxing in our site, the C-14. It is warm.

Time to set up our satellite internet.

Thursday November 11, 2010

Remembrance Day!
We asked around about any activities regarding Remembrance Day and I guess in the USA it is not celebrated on this date.
We watched the ceremonies on TV. It is very moving and important to remember that day.

In the afternoon we went to Wally world (Walmart) and Camping World.
Back at our site, we spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool.
The building is where the pool is located.

Water and sun!

All the sites are fairly large.

Some evening photos.
This RV park is very noisy at this end. We are at less than .5 kilometer from the I-4. Hard to see, but we have a MacDonald right next to the park and all day and night you can hear the people placing order in the drive through. It is open 24/7.
Not like camping in Cold Lake...

Pretty sky.

Friday November 12, 2010

As I said, the nights are very noisy because of the traffic on I-4.
We will have to adapt I guess!
We are going to check out the beaches today. First, we make a short stop at our friends condo and take a photo. They are still in Cold Lake, Alberta. We have to tease them because they will not be here until the 18.

The road by the beach. Very nice, but parking is at a premium.

What a good idea, use flags when you cross the road. Most driver a busy looking at the ladies in bikini anyway!

Sand, sun and water. We took a nice long walk.

A clear message or what!

You can see Tampa in the distance.

Downtown Tampa.

A good day!

Saturday November 13, 2010

Time to go to the flea market. The Red Barn flea market in Tampa.
Even the drive to get there, is nice.

This flea market is similar in size to the one back home.

On our way back home, we stop by Camping World. This place is like a Canadian Tire, but for RV. Right next to Camping World is Lazy Days, a RV dealer. The biggest in the country. This is only one of the "garage", they have about 120 bays for RV in this place.

Right by the I-4 you can see this form of art.
8 Airstream with the nose in the ground.

The park has a bingo tonight. I am one of the lucky one and won with 7 other people. Darn!
I ended up with $1.00 US. I am rich!

A nice day.

November 14 to 16, 2010

The next few days are pretty relaxed, biking, reading, pool, etc...
We visited this small flea market.

Boy, do I look happy!

Some photos of the park.

Half of the park is made up of permanent house like these one.

The water is nice and warm. Most of the days were spent there.

In Florida you have a lot of those little critters, they are salamanders. They are good because they eat bugs.

Tomorrow, we are driving toward Miami.

Life is good!